Speak Out 06/23/04

Making ends meet

HOW MANY HUD homes are barely getting by with their wants and not their needs? How many people on assistance of any kind pay $40 a month or more on cable TV, high-speed Internet, cigarettes or expensive video games? I don't feel any of these luxuries should be available in HUD homes. I do not make much money, have a house payment and pay insurance and taxes. I don't have cable TV or a computer. If there is nothing on TV to watch, I go for a walk. If you can't make ends meet, get a part-time job.

Unwelcome stay

ACCORDING TO the most recent, reliable polls, 55 percent of Iraqis now say they would feel safer if the United States left right away. An overwhelming majority view the United States as an occupying force, and a strong majority prefer for the United States to leave within six months. Anyone who believes that the transfer of psuedo-sovereignty on June 30 will make any difference in the violence is being fooled. A very large number of Iraqis view the government as a U.S. puppet.

Corporate welfare

SOMETIMES THE Southeast Missourian goes to extraordinary lengths to explain why corporate welfare is not, in its view, really welfare. "It's an investment in the future" is a familiar argument. However, when it comes to government programs designed to invest in the poor, this is usually dismissed out of hand by an indignant editorial board as throwing money at the already failed war on poverty.

Wrong comparisons

THE COMMENT about teachers' concern for money was wrong on two counts. First, the comment that teachers could easily take jobs away from others because they have more education is the type of arrogance and lack of knowledge about real jobs that threaten to confirm the stereotype about teachers living in an ivory tower. Would a teacher do better a better job building than a long-time construction worker? Would a teacher do better than a restaurateur who worked his way up in restaurant management? Education gives a huge boost to prospects, but it doesn't in the end guarantee proficiency or success. As for the second point this caller made -- that he wouldn't trust a mechanic to work on his brakes for half the price -- hello. Mechanics and others provide services all the time for discounted prices. Read the newspaper and you'll see coupons along these lines. Honest ones do a good job all the time, no matter what the going rate is. More worrisome is that comment implies that teachers do a bad job because they're frustrated about pay. If a teacher has that attitude, I hope he tries to get a job in the real world.

Floodwall murals

The new murals look great.